Christine L. Eckenrod, radiography program director at Pennsylvania College of Technology, was recently elected to a two-year term as secretary on the Pennsylvania Society of Radiologic Technologists Board of Directors.
Eckenrod was elected by PSRT members. In addition to serving as board secretary, she is part of PSRT’s legislative committee and chairs its annual Techni-Bowl competition for college students.
Shawn A. Kiser, dental hygiene program director at Pennsylvania College of Technology, was appointed to the position of commission site visitor for 2020-21 by the Commission on Dental Accreditation.
Site visitors assist the commission in a number of ways, including developing accreditation standards, serving on special committees and serving as site visitors to predoctoral, advanced dental and allied dental education programs. Site visitors are fact-finders, who report their findings to the commission, which then decides on a program’s accreditation status. Kiser’s term begins in October.
Fifty-five years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for all Americans to stand up to injustice, Pennsylvania College of Technology’s leader – reflecting on a beloved nation again riven by social unrest – urged a renewed embrace of that civic responsibility. “Now is not the time for silence or inaction,” President Davie Jane Gilmour said in a campuswide email to students and employees. “Now, more than five decades later, it is again time for action. We must call out racial injustice and inequality, whenever we encounter it, in clear and unequivocal terms.”
Penn College’s Fall 2020 plan for the return of in-person instruction was announced Friday morning by President Davie Jane Gilmour, who matched that commitment with assurances to students and parents alike of the expansive pandemic protocols “to mitigate risk and offer safe interaction on campus.”
A massive structure meant to encourage the “ecological awakening of humanity” can trace its foundation across the Atlantic Ocean to the welding expertise and facilities offered at Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Nine instructors and 15 students spent 10 weeks fabricating the structural framework for the Living Chapel, unveiled this week at the Botanical Garden of Rome during Global Catholic Climate Movement activities. Its formal unveiling via streaming video is scheduled for June 5, U.N. World Environment Day.
When social distancing rules permit, the open-air sanctuary – made of aluminum and recyclable and repurposed materials – will be placed at the Vatican before being moved to its permanent home in Assisi, Italy, the birthplace of St. Francis, the patron saint of ecology, whose small church provided the footprint for the Living Chapel.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, what it’s going to mean to everybody,” said James N. Colton II, assistant professor of welding, who led the Penn College fabrication team. “It’s definitely a big deal.”
Pennsylvania College of Technology’s brewing and fermentation science instructor shared his expertise at Susquehanna University earlier in the Spring 2020 semester as part of its yearlong Honors Sophomore Colloquium.
Timothy L. Yarrington presented “The Piracy of Brewing: How Brewers Exploit Natural Systems for Personal Pleasure and Financial Gain” at the colloquium, which has focused on the topic of alcohol as part of the centenary of Prohibition.
Last week, the Pennsylvania College of Technology’s dental hygiene program held a special event for its first- and second-year students, engaging an international motivational speaker who is well-known in the dental field to speak with students via videoconference.
“Our students have been going through such turmoil during this COVID-19 pandemic, that we felt the need to lift their spirits,” said Shawn A. Kiser, the college’s director of dental hygiene.
A member of the diesel equipment technology faculty has been honored by Pennsylvania College of Technology and Caterpillar Inc. with the annual “Pathfinder to Excellence” award.
John D. Motto, an instructor at the college’s Schneebeli Earth Science Center near Allenwood, is the latest recipient of an award presented since 2003 to someone who “develops effective teaching techniques, enhances learning materials, demonstrates a keen sensitivity to student needs and maintains high academic standards.”
Six wood engravings created by David M. Moyer, assistant professor of graphic design at Pennsylvania College of Technology, captured the first place prize in an exhibition at the Vilnius Graphic Art Center in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The exhibition, the 10th International Triennial of Small Graphic Forms Vilnius 2020, was on display March 10 through April 4.
Four Pennsylvania College of Technology students were recently awarded aviation scholarships: two from the Helicopter Foundation International/Helicopter Association International and two from Women in Aviation International.
All four are enrolled in the four-year aviation maintenance technology major, based at Penn College’s Lumley Aviation Center in Montoursville.
In a word, the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in “uncertainty.”
Kyle G. Stavinski, a 2015 graduate of Pennsylvania College of Technology’s emergency medical services major who is a full-time critical care flight paramedic and educator for Geisinger’s Life Flight, part-time paramedic with Susquehanna Regional EMS and a part-time paramedic instructor at the college, says that, while danger has always been inherent to the work of emergency medical technicians and paramedics, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new causes for uncertainty.
Six Pennsylvania College of Technology seniors were among eight Bald Eagle Battalion Army ROTC cadets commissioned as second lieutenants Saturday during a virtual ceremony, the culmination of their four-year transformation from cadets to officers.
With family members and other supporters joining them in person and on computer screens, Penn College students sworn into service are Hayden N. Beiter, of Cogan Station; Casey A. Curtin, of Berwick; Alex Hackenberg, of Middleburg; William M. Johnson, of Glen Mills; Jordan H. Murray, of Chambersburg; and Austin S. Weinrich, of Jenkintown. Curtin is a plastics and polymer engineering technology major; Hackenberg is enrolled in information technology: network specialist concentration; and Beiter, Johnson, Murray and Weinrich are graduating this year in residential construction technology and management: building construction technology concentration.
Celebrating the talents of graduating seniors, Architecture & Sustainable Design 2020 is viewable on The Gallery at Penn College’s webpage.
The online exhibit showcases the work of students earning Bachelor of Science degrees in Pennsylvania College of Technology’s building science and sustainable design major.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a May 14 opening reception was planned for the exhibit in The Gallery at Penn College; however, a shift from the physical space to an online showing was required.
A half-hour Zoom conversation among three Pennsylvania College of Technology graphic design majors, moderated by instructor Nicholas L. Stephenson, provides potential students and their families with valuable insight on the collaborative and rigorous four-year program. Join Ali D. Petrizzi, of Langhorne; Joey M. Morrin, of Morrisville; and Hailee B. Mercy, of Felton, as they discuss their decision to attend Penn College, their classes and projects, their adaptation to online-only learning, what they like best about their chosen career field, and much more.
An industrial design student at Pennsylvania College of Technology has “rolled the dice” with his senior project. And his move looks like a winning one.
Cullen S. Berfield, of Jersey Shore, has designed a board game for his capstone. Complete with innovative rules, dice, player pieces, boards and cards, the unique endeavor marries his affinity for strategy games with his artistic instincts.
“I’ve always loved board games because they bring people together,” Berfield explained. “Bringing people together for a chunk of time, whether it be for a half hour or a few hours, is something that I find special.”